Delivering objective criteria
From MicroJustice
Contents |
[edit] What are objective criteria
In distributive negotiations, disputants need objective criteria to come a wise and fair agreement. Various different sources of objective criteria exist. Depending on the issue at hand, market prices, social norms and customs, legal rules, etc. can be used. However, many of these are not suitable for functioning as objective criteria. Some properties of objective criteria make them more suitable than others (see Objective criteria for an overview of desirable properties). Legal rules may be too vague, case law may be too abundant or inconsistent, social norms may systematically put certain groups in disadvantage.
[edit] Developing suitable objective criteria
The development of objective criteria will take place on this wiki. Microjustice Products for consumer problems and family problems are currently being developed. For these products, objective criteria have to be developed as well. These objective criteria will be delivered through MicrojusticeNormsandProcesses.com.
[edit] Properties
Requirements of objective criteria can be divided into two different categories. The first category directly sees on the properties of objective criteria (what elements do they weigh? How do they weigh this? Etc.). The second category sees on the context in which objective criteria are presented.
Properties of objective criteria:
- Objective criteria should be as objective as possible, so that they give clear guidance to disputants and can be applied independent of will power.
- Objective criteria should be perceived as legitimate. They have to reflect factors disputants find of importance with regards to fairness. Equity, equality and need are principles that people generally consider principles for fairness. These principles are used depending on context (i.e. the nature of relationships).
- Objective criteria should lead to continuous outcomes. They should not provide a yes or no answer. For instance, when dismantling a business, value should be distributed according to the investments partners made for setting up a business. This could be money or other assets invested, hours spent working, etc.
- Objective criteria should weigh the same elements on both sides. The example of the dismantling of a business makes this clear.
- Objective criteria should be easy to apply.
Properties of context:
- Social comparison: People have a need to obtain outcomes similar to other people in similar cases. How can we make the quantative use transparent? How can we make the satisfaction with outcomes transparent?
- Adjust expectancy: The prior expectations of disputants affect their acceptance of outcomes. This effect can be neutralized by adjusting unreasonable expectations as soon as possible. This could be done by providing them average outcomes, maximum outcomesand minimum outcomes, accompanied by the scenarios to which they apply.
- List of relevant factors: All conflicts have many different aspects that disputants tend to interpret in their own ways. However, not every aspect may be of relevance for determining the outcome. Expectations can be made more realistic by providing for of a list of relevant factors as soon as possible.
- Utilizing reputation mechanisms: If outcomes and rejected outcomes are somehow made public, disputants tend to reject reasonable outcomes in much fewer cases.
- Multiple objective criteria for one problem: Sometimes people have different perceptions of fairness, or put different emphasis on certain aspects. In such cases, it helps if different objective criteria are available that can be applied to one case.
[edit] Development process
[edit] Investigation phase
Collecting relevant information:
- What are the most common scenarios of the conflict?
- What are the relevant factors?
- What do people usualy expect to get?
- What are the legal rules that apply to the situation?
- What are the going rates that are typically used in common cases?
- What are the local norms that are commonly applied?
[edit] Design phase
- (Re)design the objective criteria that were found in the investigation phase and design objective criteria with the other information collected so that they meet the requirements for objective criteria.
- Design the suitable context for delivering objective criteria.
[edit] Test phase
- Test objective criteria.
[edit] Design phase
- Adjust and redesign.
